The Conference of Parties (COP), at is fourth session, decided to review the Financial Mechanism
of the Convention every four years in accordance with Article 11.4 of the Convention. The annex to
decision 3/CP.4 (153 kB) containing the guidelines states that the objective of the review
of the Financial Mechanism is to take appropriate measures regarding:

(a) Its conformity with the provisions of Article 11 of the Convention;

(b) Its conformity with the guidance of the COP;

(c) The effectiveness of the activities it funds in implementing the Convention;

(d) Its effectiveness in providing financial resources on a grant or concessional basis, including
for the transfer of technology, for the implementation of the Convention's objective on the basis
of the guidance provided by the COP; and

(e) Its effectiveness in providing resources to developing country Parties under Article 4.3 of the
Convention.
The additional elements of the guidelines including the objectives were added by decision
6/CP.13.
Four reviews of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention have been conducted in the past, with the
most recent review completed at COP 16.

Recent Developments

In accordance with decision 8/CP.19, the Standing Committee on Finance (SCF) provided expert input to
the fifth review of the Financial Mechanism with a view of the review being finalized by Parties at
COP 20.

At COP 20, Parties concluded the fifth review of the Financial Mechanism and endorsed the expert
input by the SCF, which the COP agreed to annex to the decision on the fifth review of the Financial
Mechanism.

Parties also decided on a concrete timeline for the sixth review of the Financial Mechanism. In this
regard, Parties agreed to initiate the sixth review of the Financial Mechanism at COP 22 and
requested the SCF to provide expert input to the sixth review of the Financial Mechanism in 2017 with
a view to the review being completed by COP 23.